For public safety and law enforcement organizations, such as police and sheriff's departments, central computers and data bases of information are now indispensable to performing their duties, especially in large metropolitan areas with a highly mobile citizenry. For example, it has become routine for police officers, when stopping automobiles, to check the license plate number of the automobile stopped against those reportedly stolen, and the license number and name of the driver stopped against persons for whom a warrant has been issued or who are wanted for some other reason.
Until recently, public safety officers checked the identity of individuals or automobiles who have been detained by first transmitting information on the individual to a central dispatcher on a two-way voice radio link. The dispatcher then communicated the information to a central computer data base operator. Receiving an answer in the field took several minutes after the initial inquiry by the public safety officer. Not only did the public safety officer have to wait, thereby preventing the officer from patrolling, reducing the number of officers in the field and increasing response time to calls for help, but in many instances the officer was unable to detain the individual or automobile long enough to complete the check.
These problems have been solved, only in part, by mobile data terminals. Mobile data terminals (MDTs) are mounted in patrol vehicles having a radio transmitter and receiver. The MDT is connected to an externally mounted antenna to establish a direct radio communications link with a central computer and data base. With an MDT unit in their vehicle, police officers spend less time checking and more time patrolling, responding to calls and apprehending suspected criminals.
To use an MDT, the public safety officer is required to return to the patrol vehicle where the MDT is permanently located. To obviate this problem, other recent innovations include hand-held portable data terminals (PDTs) with radio communications capabilities. Thus, a PDT with a radio transmitter is capable of establishing a direct radio link from the field with the central computer. PDTs configured as described above act like MDTs.
These new law enforcement tools, the MDT and the PDT, improve access to central data bases and, consequently, enhance the performance efficiency of the public safety officers in the field. However, public safety officers must also spend several hours each day writing or compiling reports, usually in their office or in the station house. The MDTs and PDTs in their present form are incapable of data processing functions. Some public safety organizations have, thus, provided their officers with portable "lap top" personal computers on which to prepare reports. However, these lap top computers are just one more piece of equipment that must be carried by public safety officers inhibiting their ability to perform their duties.
Thus, the overall field needs of public safety officers have not been recognized, much less addressed or solved, by the present MDT, PDT and lap-top computer technology.